1979: Technical malfunctions allow uncontrollable pressure to build in Ixtoc 1, an exploratory oil well off Mexico’s southeastern coast. The blowout preventer fails, the wellhead explodes, and oil starts to flow into the Gulf of Mexico. Over the next 10 months, 140 million gallons of oil flows from Ixtoc 1 into the Gulf of Mexico, […]

1908: A British company strikes oil in Persia (now Iran). It’s the first big petroleum find in the Middle East, and it sets off a wave of exploration, extraction and exploitation that will change the region’s — and the world’s — history. Englishman William D’Arcy obtained a license to explore for oil in Persia in […]

1989: The Exxon Valdez runs aground in Prince William Sound, spilling nearly 11 million gallons of crude oil across 1,300 miles of Alaskan coastline. In terms of environmental damage, it ranks among the worst man-made catastrophes ever, and one whose repercussions are felt to this day. The Exxon Valdez, a single-hull oil tanker measuring nearly […]